Sixty miles west of Boston, Massachusetts there is the small New England town of Sturbridge. Located at the junction of I-90 (The Mass Pike), and I-84 it has become known as the "Crossroads of New England". The town was first settled over 300 years ago, and like other small New England towns it has grown just enough over the years to be in a difficult place today. How do we embrace the future without forgetting how we got to our present? How do we attract the right kind of growth, and maintain who we are? And, what about our culture out here in Central Massachusetts?

These pages will cause one to think about how to protect what we have, our future direction, and how to move on in the very best way.

Those thoughts, and other ramblings, will hopefully inspire more thought, conversation, action, and occasionally a smile...

...seems to be working so far

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Do You Remember Ovide's?

The dining room inside Ovide's on Route 15 in Sturbridge

Ovide's from above. The sandy area at the top of the
photo is where the Pilot Gas station is now.

Looking down on Ovide's from where the eastbound lane
of I-84 is now. .

I remember it well. My grandfather started it with a chicken coop and it grew from there. He later damned up the streem running through the valley and made two ponds. The lower one you can see from the postcards. I grew up in the house behind the restaurant. Summers were the best.. hardly ever got out of the water and when no one was around... hunting and fishing in the upper pond.

Hi Paul,I remember it well also. My parents were Bill and Mae Naedler. We would go on a 2 week vacation every year there. My parents were close friend with Ray and Pearl and the other Mercures. Such great memories. I was going to work in the restaurant as a bus boy one summer, but it never worked out.Then we went to Ray and Pearl's restaurant in Harwich, then I lost contact with them....oh the Yankee Drummer...in Sturbridge, Forgot who owned that.If you would be so kind as to give me an update of all the family I would appreciate that. My email is WAFGN@aol.com

My folks lived in nearby Somers, Connecticut. Traveling from New Hampshire, I'd stop at Ovide's for a beer. I got to know the bartender, an affable guy.One day, knowing I was from New Hampshire, the bartender mentioned that the owner of the China Dragon in Hooksett, NH had just bought Ovide's. I replied, "That's nice, when's the fire?"The next time I drove by, Ovide's had burned flat. I always wondered if that bartender had thought back to our conversation.